CHANGES have been made to plans for a new boutique hotel and steakhouse in Durham City.
Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White is to open the restaurant as part of the redevelopment of the Old Shire Hall in Old Elvet, which will include a new Hotel Indigo.
New plans have now been submitted for the £15million development, which is at the Grade II-listed former headquarters of Durham University.
Developers already had permission for a similar scheme but a new application has been submitted to Durham County Council for an 83-bedroom hotel with fitness suite, restaurant and bar and coffee shop.
The new application was made after architects Howarth Litchfield, which is also based in Old Elvet, suggested improvements to the internal layout of the scheme to protect the historic fabric of the building.
Old Shire Hall, which has been empty since the university moved out in 2012, dates from 1896 and was built for the newly formed Durham County Council.
The proposed changes to the inside of the building will mainly affect 20th century additions. A statement from Howarth Litchfield says: “There is minimum intervention to the original 19th century fabric of the building.”
The building’s offices will be turned into hotel rooms while the council chamber, ante-rooms and reception rooms will be turned into the bar and bistro.
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